Arthur Mole was a photographer renown for his “living” pictures to help encourage soldiers at war. Arthur Mole was born in Lexton, Essex, England in the year 1889. Mole’s work is just so clever, the work of the battleship shows soldiers spelling out “Nice to Meet You” in Japanese.

Mole had the idea to take many soldiers and arrange them into patriotic shapes. When seen from the ground the soldiers looked like a random image of people, but when shot from high above the images would come into place. Some subject matter included flags, a liberty bell, and an eagle.

Unofficially Mole used as many as 20,000 people in one picture. In order to make the perspective work correctly many more people had to be placed in the distance rather than closer.

The artist and his family moved to the United States in 1902, just after he became a teenager. Mole worked as a commercial photographer.

It took a great deal of patience and time to organize the soldiers into place. Mole’s viewing point was an 80 foot tower. He would shout instructions on where to stand via a megaphone.

Mole is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Arthur More passed away in 1983.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

Below a brief clip on Arthur Mole and his helper in this activity, John Thomas:

No need for photoshop with such a creative mind! Arthur Mole was far ahead of his time in the field of photography!